The man who must have authorised Li's arrest is Bo Xilai, the only
Politburo member who can comfortably wear epithets such as colourful,
mercurial or maverick. The Communist Party boss of the central-west
city of Chongqing has captivated the nation with a brave but risky war
against the city's organised crime.

Bo got to where
he is partly because he is the son of Bo Yibo, one of China's "eight
immortals" - the tag for an exalted club of revolutionaries who lived
long enough to stamp their marks on China's reform era history.

The China Youth Daily
hinted at the equally impressive power behind the lawyer that Bo
arrested: "As Li Zhuang arrived at Chongqing, he began to play the
peacock, saying many times 'do you know my background? Do you know who
my boss is?"

What the censors won't let local media
spell out is that Li's law firm is headed by Fu Yang, who is the son of
Peng Zhen, also one of the eight immortals and more powerful than Bo
Yibo. Li's lawyer from the same Kangda law firm, Gao Zicheng, said he
could not talk about the background politics: "I can't go there …''